March 24, 2025 • 37 mins
In this inspiring episode of Behind Her Business, Kristina Johnson sits down with her dear friend, birthday twin, and personal bookkeeper, Shelbi Gehring—founder and CEO of a national bookkeeping firm. Shelbi shares her incredible journey from being a 20-year-old receptionist and young mom to launching her own successful business at 26. With early mentorship, relentless drive, and a little nudge from her husband, Shelbi turned her knack for numbers into a thriving enterprise that now supports clients nationwide (and internationally!).
The conversation dives into the realities of entrepreneurship, including pricing your worth, managing growth, firing clients, and the power of knowing your “BAM”—bare ass minimum. Shelbi also opens up about balancing business with motherhood, the importance of relationships over revenue, and how she’s helped clients save over $4 million in taxes. This is a must-listen for any entrepreneur looking to grow a sustainable, service-based business with heart and hustle.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/behind-her-business-podcast--6404801/support.
The conversation dives into the realities of entrepreneurship, including pricing your worth, managing growth, firing clients, and the power of knowing your “BAM”—bare ass minimum. Shelbi also opens up about balancing business with motherhood, the importance of relationships over revenue, and how she’s helped clients save over $4 million in taxes. This is a must-listen for any entrepreneur looking to grow a sustainable, service-based business with heart and hustle.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/behind-her-business-podcast--6404801/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of Behind Her Business.
We have a very dear friend of mine today that
is our guest. Her name is Shelby Gearing. She is
the owner of a national bookkeeping firm. Shelby, thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for asking me,
of course.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So to give you guys a little context on why
I have Shelby here today. Number One, she's my bookkeeper
for my business, kJ Marketing Group, Okay, and she's the
best out there and I'm being serious. Second, she is
my birthday twin, So we just actually celebrated a birthday together.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Happy birthday, birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So I wanted to have Shelby on this podcast today
because you are the youngest entrepreneur that I.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Know, which is wild, but it is wild.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I feel like we're the same age.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's yeah, No, I definitely don't feel the youngest, but
that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But you started your business what twenty six?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, So I started. I knew I wanted to open
up my own business. It came from actually my husband,
he had already had his business open for a while
and he really gave me kind of that push to
like just go on ahead and do it because I knew,
like financially, he could, you know, help on that back end,
(01:28):
and he was the main provider anyways. And then yeah,
it just absolutely took off from there.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
It is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's insane, and I want to I want to go
back a little bit. So before you started your bookkeeping business,
we'll get into that, But before you started that, how
long were you in corporate Right, you're relatively young, you're
twenty six years old, probably still trying to figure things out. Yeah,
were you always trying to go into bookkeeping and you
know kind of what was your experience before you got
(01:58):
into your own business.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, So I was originally a receptionist a company. It
was an IT company in the healthcare industry, and they
were great.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They definitely like I had just had.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My son and I was twenty years old, and the
office manager there, her name is Karen, absolutely took me
under her wing and basically gave me a lot of
tools that I needed that.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Have helped me drive this business. For sure. She taught
me a lot. She's in HR guru.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
In my eyes, but she handled like the payroll side
of things and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
A lot of the.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
A lot of like the inventory management side, and so
she kind of gave me a little bit of taste
of like some of the credit card and reconciliation portions
of things entering credit cards, and I became like her
little assistant for a while and helping her manage certain
aspects of it.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And then I realized I loved it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I was already kind of having trouble finding what
I really wanted to get into because I was in
college whenever we had our sons. So once I got
that taste of accounting, it just kind of flew from there.
And then I became an accounting assistant and I got
hired on at the really amazing plastic surgeon. He gave
(03:21):
me an opportunity to really grow with him, and I
learned so much. At the end of it, before I resigned,
I was running a whole accounting like whole thing was
running off of nine businesses and all different businesses from
(03:41):
His wife was a dermatologist, and he was also like
he wasn't only just a plastic surgeon. He is a
probably one of the smartest businessmen I've ever known, even
till this day, knowing who all I know, he was
very intelligent and He taught me a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
He definitely did.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's worth its weight in gold. When you are able
to really somebody can take you under their wing, yeah
and show you. And that's what it sounds like to me,
Like we showed you. They gave you all of the
I guess the equipment that you needed, yeah, to start
your own business.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So, like I at first was hired on as like
an accounting assistant under a manager, and then within like
he put me on this big project that was with
the State of Texas that we were basically do like
a sales tax audit, and I had caught this huge
discrepancy and that the previous manager hadn't caught.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So and then there was.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Some other backstories, but essentially I ended up taking over
the position and he was absolutely crazy to give me
that position.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I was like a sponge, Yeah, I mean I really was.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I was with him for like four years, I want
to say four or five years at that point and
before I resigned, and I soaked up every bit of
knowledge that he had in business because he was more
like business finance portion. And then with the CPA that
I worked with, he was awesome as well, and that
taught me a lot of the tax side of things,
(05:11):
and then I got my bookkeeper certificate and then it
just kind of rolled from there and next thing I know,
it was a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I was working over sixty hours.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
A week starting your business, or before you started, I was.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Working for him, and then once I started my business,
that was when Now I work full time.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So yeah, more than sixty.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
But I love what I do and I have a
great team behind me that truly gives me the ability
to keep doing what I love to do.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So how long was it from the moment that you
left corporate to starting your business? Was it a was
it on a whim? Was it something you were thinking
about for years? Like kind of what propelled you? How
long did it take for you to actually take that
first s up?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so I had already been asked whenever I was
running the accounting manage, like whenever I was the accounting
manager there, I had already been asked to kind of
do some books like moonlighting, right, But in respect of
my employer, I because they were the person that had
asked me. They had partnership, was my employer, and they
wanted me to do some of their other businesses as well.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That they had out of respective.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And my I asked him, you know how he would
feel it, and he didn't really, I don't think he
cared much. But at that point I was already just
kind of hitting my limit as far as like working
that many hours.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I was exhausted.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And you know, having an employer and working that home
life balance can me a lot whenever you're trying.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
To also further your career.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, And so that kind of gave me the push
to realize, like, oh wait, I can do this for
other people and for multiple.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
People and have more flexibility and have.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
More flexibility for my family. And within six months of
me opening up my business, I had made my full
salary of what I was getting paid. That's insane under
as an accounting manager, which was absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Where you were in the what's the black from the beginning? Right?
Oh yeah, I say, am I using that term correctly?
My book?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Can I mean black?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Like black?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Kind of like like black is like like breaking even right?
Green is profitability? Oh yeah, because I'm service based.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm service based, right, there's very little overhead. I obviously
like you're gonna learn tips and tricks and you're gonna
go through things that you're gonna fumble, You're gonna fail,
You're gonna be like, Okay, is this even what I
want to do?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Because it is exhausting.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
You better really want to do.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It starts if you want to get I mean, it does.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And you have to have some patients with yourself too,
you know what I mean, understanding that like you're going
to fail, You're gonna be stressed, You're gonna want to
question this is even what you want to do. It's
not easy. And also starting so young, with having such
a young family I was, it was definitely hard, you know,
(08:02):
but I had a really good support system behind me
that was really helpful. But I started with I mean
there was no money. I had no startup fees. Right
once I got the service and I got the contracts,
you know, there.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Was creating my entity.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
There was fees like that to start something like that,
but it wasn't directly related to the actual service that
I was provided.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
See and I think people that are listening to this
podcast and they're thinking what type of service like, because
you have you can you know you can do if
you can be a franchise e, you can have a
service based business, you can have a product based business,
you can do e commerce for me as well. Having
the marketing company. Having consulting was part of my service
in the beginning, at least for the first few years,
(08:45):
I was mainly consulting. We weren't selling any digital product. Yeah,
I was able to be in the green from day
one being a service based company. So what is your
thoughts on people who you know they want to be
able to make because you know, usually if you're productor
spending all this money on product and then you've got
to make up for that product and you're looking usually
not to make profit for a few years.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, usually it's like a two to three year turnaround
if you're not making a profit within And also I
really want to emphasize that this is strictly like resell service,
like resell right, not just like strictly service. If you
have a product that you're wanting to put, you know,
time and effort into to create, that's going to take
(09:27):
extra time, you're gonna you're you're not going to see
a profit for longer periods.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And you have to be okay with you You have
to be okay with that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But I also think as an entrepreneur, whenever you're starting
up your business knowing what your profit margins are potentially
going to be.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Right that we project these figures.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
On the front end, you look at what the economic
rates looking like for that product and the service, what
the marketing is looking like for that Like, there's so
many other factors when it comes to opening a business,
specifically for product based service like base resell. And I
also think taking into account and setting the price, really
(10:03):
looking at that price, yes, because if you just go
with a ballpark number and then you realize your overhead
costs or changes in the economy changes, then you're the
cost to actually produce that product increases and it eats
your margins.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
See, that's why I prefer service based, yeah, right away,
but you know aparent you know obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Everyone wants but and for a long time when I
first started this, I completely agreed with that until I
started getting some of my product based clients as well.
So as you know, like I specialize in the publishing world, right,
they're so best selling authors.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have amazing clients.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I have probably over seventy authors at this point, and
also bookshops and they do book boxes and let me
tell you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
The margins on those book boxes are.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Amazing, Yeah, because you get like you get to sneak
behind the curtain. Yeah, that's a good industry to really
put your money into.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, starting a business.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean it honestly, I think passion comes really really
behind that, right, Like you can I can say, listen,
do a digital Etsy, right, like, get a digital product,
resell it on Etsy. There's not as many like your
profit margins on those are astronomical other than the time
it takes to create whatever digital product that like you
want to produce. I have one client that does something
(11:28):
similar and the perfit margins of those are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So it's something to think about. Guys, don't listen to me.
I'm all about service. I'm going to provide you a
service and cut us a check.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I mean the way it still is service, right, It's
just really it's it's also just really honing down on
those figures, which I think comes into play with actually
knowing what your numbers are as an entrepreneur and as
a business owner. If you just want to do your
taxes and you know, really push your tax strategy and
(12:00):
on the front end and you know, not pay as little.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean yeah, we can absolutely offer that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I work with a well as you know James with
Cobo tax He's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Oh yeah he is. He's my CPA.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, he's great, and we have over fifty clients together.
We work very closely together and we build our clients
to where taxes aren't as stressful at.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
The end of the year.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
But if you're not wanting to hone in on your
financials and actually be able to what's the report?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I always oh.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
My god, okay, So to tell you guys, So, whenever
I started the business and Shelby came on board, she said,
my bare ass minimum. It was my BAM. I had
no idea what a BAM was like, what is bam?
She's like, what you need to spend to stay in business?
So I was constantly asking her my bare ass minimum? Yeah,
we want to know that if you're not a business
owners and question business owners do they always know that?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Not? Okay, So business owner, I think they may think
that they have an idea, right, but truly like, if
the to keep the doors open of your business, what
is the minimum that like you have that's going to
cost you? And then that's like kind of the foundation
to creating those figures of how much you want to
(13:18):
resell your products, right, because then once you know that,
then you have at least a good foundation to start
and make those decisions. If you don't have your BAM,
if you don't know the market that you're in, if
you don't even know your product, you know what I mean.
I feel like having the conversations with other bookkeepers and
other accounting firms and other you know, CPA firms, whatever's
(13:40):
out there. Having those conversations and really feeling out the
market is really important too well.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And I think also knowing competitive competitively what's being priced. Yeah,
because that's something that we've talked about. And it's so
funny because I know that there's probably some people that
have businesses that are listening to this that have a bookkeeper. Yeah,
but all not all bookkeepers are the same. Iron to say,
as Shelby was my third and my last. But I
will tell you, she'll sit with me and talk about
(14:07):
my BAM. She'll talk about what percentage of my revenue
should be should go to payroll budgeting, We do budgeting.
I mean, these are things that you know. And half
the time I canceled the meetings guys, because I don't
want to, you know, I read she does no more Amazon.
But it's important to know this. And so if you're
(14:28):
a business owner, like these are the things, I think
it's important for us to talk about these things and
be very open with them. What is the one thing
that you see most businesses have. What's the biggest mistake
that they make when it comes to their monthly budgeting?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, I'm going to say that well, and you know
me because I'm I'm a very I will tell it
to you straight right. Yes, there have been many times
that we've had some really rough conversations that you probably
did not like me very much.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, absolutely, that's the job exactly like my job isn't
to hold your hand. Obviously I will while I'm giving
it to you straight, but ignorance I do. I think
that like hiding from what is actually going.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
On in your business can really make or break you. Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Will also say that like growth is very scary. You
can absolutely grow too big too soon, but also just
really looking at those figures and also sitting down with
someone who can explain it to you, because if you
don't know the difference between a profit and loss. And
if you can't even read your balance sheet, then there's
(15:41):
a problem, right, Like you have to know what's going on.
You have to know exactly like where you want to
go to, right, Like, we can't get to an end
zone and get to a play and complete it if
we don't even have a goal in mind.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So what are the telltale signs that a company needs
somebody like you? Some people they just you know, do
either do their quarterly taxes and they wait till the
end of the year. When is it when you're like,
you know what, you need somebody like me? You need
a bookkeeper to come in have monthly meetings? Like what when?
When does a business need that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I think it depends on the owner, right, there's like
two facets to it, correct, Like, it depends on the
owner and what they will actually put into it.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
A lot of this.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I can give number numbers, I can give projections, I
can give all this data and produce all this time
and work for an owner. But if they're not willing
to sit down and actually read it and actually make
decisions off of that, then monthly will.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Never work for them. Yep, that's true, right, it will never.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You're going to get out what you put in.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And I think also it's very fair for me to
say like I am not, as you know, I'm not
the cheapest bookkeeper out there.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
There are absolutely bookkeepers out there that will do.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Data entry, reconciliation for you know, different pricing. We're all different,
we're at different level. I am a little bit more
on the higher end of bookkeeping because I dabble with
accounting and finance and stuff like that and tax projections.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
But we can do all this work.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
But if you don't want to sit down actually look
at it, then monthly is never gonna work.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
There's no point.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And I will also say on the flip side of that, right,
even if you don't want to put in the time
and effort to read these financials and actually talk about
them and go through them tax wise, even if just
just you want us to have someone to stay on
top of your taxes and if you have a lot
of movement coming in and out, I definitely recommend getting someone.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Because it gets a second pair of eyes.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Right, how many times have I come to you, hey, listen,
this payment was wrong. Someone in your internal ran this
payment incorrectly. This payment was never received you know, and
you have someone that's a professional that's.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Finding these that's your job. That's what you did from.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
What I do.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, and having someone to support that is I think crucial.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You said something that really stood out to me was
you're not the cheapest.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I think that as entrepreneurs, if you are providing a service,
and you're providing a stellar service or even like a
stellar product, I think we all as entrepreneurs, especially in
the beginning of our journeys, maybe you did, I know
I did. I did lowering your serve to get the client.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Absolutely, So I'm going to I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Going to give you a break because I really want
to get the client. We want to you know, we
want to build our portfolio. But once you're in business
for a while and you know what you bring to
the table. I hate to say it, it's so cliche,
but you really do get what you pay for. You
have to be able to say, Okay, this is where
I'm going to be because this is the value. And
I love that you said that. Yeah, because did that
(18:51):
change for you in the beginning when you started to
Now now that you have this experience, you know your worth? Yeah,
did that change for you.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I definitely think it did.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And I will also say, like that's probably one of
the things that whenever I first opened, I probably didn't
do enough research on the book keeping in that industry
of what the pricing was, right, Like a lot of
times pricing is people don't like to talk a prep
about price and they want to keep it, you know,
just sliding under and kind of hush hush. And so
(19:20):
I started out, I want to say, like my first
monthly was maybe like three hundred bucks, three hundred and
fifty bucks something like that, and.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You were probably doing hours and hours way past that
three hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, I mean it was definitely if I truly took
like my hourly rate at that time, I was probably
like thirty bucks an hour.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
That's not it now, yes, obviously, but it took time,
and it starts that way. Everyone starts that way, like
we all do. But I will also say that.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think as a business owner, like like you had
just mentioned, knowing your worth and knowing your value and
being willing to say no, I'm okay, like I am
understand you may not see the value in this, but
I know the value of this, and I know what
I can do for you. But also on that flip side,
comes value comes expectations. I guess we're just talking about this, right,
(20:11):
Like the stress of expectations from your clients is just daunting.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Well, we're talking about that actually on the phone this morning,
because we're talking about that. Getting the client is easy,
I mean, pitching the client, getting the business is easy.
But it's after that, it's putting in the work for it.
That's when the real work happens. And that's where most
of the energy. Especially if you're a business owner and
you're catering most of the clients, they're going to buy you.
(20:40):
I mean you have the expertise, but a lot of
times they're buying you, you have to make sure you
have to ultra serve your clients. So I mean that's
what they're paying for. They're paying for that one on
one service and if they don't get it, they're going
to find somebody else who will give that to them.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
There's also a level of like value of not only
like wanting to retain your client, but also like truly
just wanting to help them, And there's different there is
there's a difference, right, Like there's I I really value
every single one of my clients, no matter if you
Because I have clients as you know, like in New York, Colorado, Washington, Wyoming,
(21:15):
I am, I'm Florida.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
I'm international too, I I do, I do have.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
A Hong Kong client. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
But regardless with that, I build relationships with these people.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I mean, I truly do.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
That's I think that's something that I've always started from
the beginning, was that I never wanted to get like
too big for my bridges, right, my quality it is,
I my quality of clients, Like I never wanted to
lose quality over quantity. And I think that's also another
big part where like you have to kind of take
a step back and realize, Okay, do I want to
(21:49):
take the next level.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Because I'm completely referral.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Based, I do not do any advertising, I know, crazy
right advertising, and I.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Have honestly, I know you don't need it. And that's
part of being a really good advertising firm, right, knowing
when you don't need it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I guess so right, And for me, I just
I really I put a lot of effort into those relationships,
and I think those relationships for themselves absolutely, And because
I'm only referral based, I I don't take.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
People off the street.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And it's not that I'm not willing, it's just the
fact that there's a level of knowledge I think that
comes when saying, hey, listen, Christina, I have this great person,
they do great business. I think that that, like you
know you, they would be great for your business or
whatever that. I think there's a level that comes with that,
(22:41):
and the expectations are set there too, So you know,
it's it's nice, but it can definitely the expectations can
definitely be drowning at point.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So let's pivot for a second because I want to
get into the mother and you, Oh goodness, gracious, you're amazing.
I mean, you have two kids. Do you have one son?
What is he twelve?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He's about to turn eleven?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Okay, and yeah, he's around yeah Braxton, Braxton, he's turning
eleven on the twenty seventh.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yes, and so and then your daughter. You have a
story we do for your daughter, So tell us about
how that came into place.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So we're in the middle of adopting our daughter. We've
had her since she was four days old.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
She is the sassiest little thing you have ever met
in your life. But yeah, no, motherhood's hard, especially owning
a business and combining that because you know, motherhood's a
full time job.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And full time self and it's our real job.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
It's honest, right, it's the core job for us.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
At the end of the day, our businesses can absolutely
tank and go in the hole and we're still a mother,
We're still We're still taking care of those little ones,
and that's hard.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Sometimes.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
How do you find I try to be more mindful
because at first, you know, I'm working late. My daughters
she's ten, she's old enough to say, mom, are you
done with work? Here you're saying. My two year old
son actually came to me the other day and said,
get off my phone. So how do you balance that?
Because I know it's tax season right now.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh you're insane, it is.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But how do you balance that? And do you balance it?
I mean, let's be honest.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Here, not hard. No, I don't balance.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I think Shonda Rhimes was the one who said that
either I'm a great business woman, but I'm failing as
a mother, or like, I'm a great mother, but my
business is failing, And there's so much truth in that statement.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Like I don't find I truly don't don't believe.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That there's ever a true balance that you can truly
like do both right. And I'm not saying that there's
probably women out there, way better women than me that.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Can, but I have not found that balance. I try. Yeah,
we all try.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
We all try to be there for our kids and
make them like great here beings and growing up in
this crazy world that we have going on.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like it's hard.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, it really is hard, and I still haven't found
the balance either. I mean, I actually spent some very
mindful time playing trucks and cars with my kids last night,
and it was just so nice just to sit there.
I mean the ten minutes felt like an hour.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But literally know, I don't know why it's very hard.
Why is plenty of time so hard? To second?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Guys, I answer this question, why is playtime so hard?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Like I don't know if I'm just like a bad mom, but.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Like I think we're all so hard.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Just I can color, I can color.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I love color.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I will absolutely color.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I'll play Connect for all day.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Oh yeah, I'll play games. I'll play games, I'll color.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I'll even my daughter loves doing like the fake makeup because.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
She loves watching. She'll sit with me while I do
my makeup.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
We'll do makeup, right, but playing actually play after play.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
My son is very creative.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I mean when I tell you, this boy will just
play with himself for a full hour with his toy.
And it's amazing to see. Right, But whenever he like
wants me to like act or like go with a.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
It does like, Okay, that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Let's put out.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Let's let's try to do this. It is. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
But I will also say that I think there is
a importance in our kids seeing strong women. Absolutely absolutely right, Like,
my husband is an amazing father husband, but he also
owns his own business, and you know, we both talked
(26:39):
about having trouble balancing that. You know there's and I
think also like because we're both running our own businesses,
we are very separate in our businesses. He makes his decisions,
I make my decisions. Now we do, like have a
really good foundation and we can come together and talk
about the woes and the hard days, and you know,
we'll ask for sometimes will give advice when the other
(27:02):
really doesn't want to right or like.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Or like whenever he just I'm like, are you sure,
that's the way you want to do this.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And then he's been telling me for probably like the
past five months that I needed to hire another bookkeeper.
And and it's very hard for me because it's not
about the fact that I don't think I can find someone.
It's the fact that is someone going to care about
my clients as much as I do.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
That's always the issue, especially when you're a small business. Yeah,
you know, and you hire.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And I'm also dealing with small businesses, right because there's
a lot of questions that come up with this.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
There's a lot of there's not a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Of you know, direct feedback saying hey, whenever you open
your business, you're going to first start this way.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Depending on your business, you're going to do X, y Z,
do this.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
It's going to be a show at least for the
first few years, and you have to be okay with that.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
But I also think like finding the people and getting
connected with people that actually know what's going on is
very important too, right, Like, you may be able to
do a great service and a great product. I would
never sit here and be like, oh, let me just
do my own marketing and advertising.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I don't know, crap about marketing.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
You go to the expert.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
I go to an expert. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So, and I think that's, you know, a really important
thing too in starting your business, knowing where your limitations lie.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Well, and I think there's still that age old saying higher, slow,
fire fast. You know. I do think that you will
find that person. There are people out there that will
be so passionate about your business. And I'm very lucky
in my business a kJ marketing group is that I've
found people that actually love this business as much as
(28:37):
I do. And I think that is like worth its
weight in gold completely, you know. And I think with you,
you've kind of gone, you know, it's just part of
being a business owner. You're going to hire people. But
I think maybe just making sure that that person is
the right person for the job. I think we kind
of get our emotional our emotions in play with this
and we hold onto people too long and we realized
(28:59):
later on maybe that wasn't the best pace.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah, yeah, I can't agree with that.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, And it's really hard because I will tell you
I would not be where I'm at in my business
without my husband and my two employees that I have
right now. Yes, I mean they truly are like when
I say, like the backbone, I have the knowledge and
I have the relationships and stuff like that, but the
admin side, they help me keep up with the bookkeeping.
(29:25):
Like they're both books so all of my like my
two employees are bookkeepers, like they're certified.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
But it's it's hard.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
It's hard letting go, and it's hard adding to a
team that's already structured. I mean, I've had one employee
for the full three years and then my other one
she just hit two years.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Very timber, so you know my retention, I hold on
to them tight. I do. I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I don't let them go unless like they want to go,
or unless like it just does not make sense.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
So tell me, have you ever fired a client?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I have, I have, and it's really hard whenever like
you want to help someone more than they want to
help themselves. I had to fire a physician once, and
it was more in the sense because you know, obviously
I was in the medical industry for a while, so
I have a lot of knowledge in that. She was
(30:20):
probably like one of the first twenty clients I had
probably gotten at that point, and she is a super
sweet woman. I would still talk to her if I
saw on the street till this day, but just the
practices that she was running as far as like the
business side of things, they just weren't.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
In line with what should be happening.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And she wasn't giving me the data I needed, right, Like,
I can only work with so much that I receive.
And I also, as you know, I'm very upfront.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
What you do is a two way type communication. So
if you're only getting one way, it's just you know,
it's just not a good fit basically.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Right, And that happens, And sometimes I'm not a good fit.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Right. I can be very upfront about certain things, and
some people can get very offended by that. But I
also set the standard of that relationship and that communication
in my consults. I mean, we do an hour consult
for a reason, and it's not only and I do
them like through zoom. I want to see my client's face.
I want them to see my face because if you
(31:24):
get any type of vibe, or if you don't care
for something I.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Say, or if you want to be able to see
facial expressions.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I do.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
You know, I read people. I will absolutely read a
situation very quickly. But it's just that really really big
communication factor. And I don't totally believe in vibes, so
if we're just not catching it, then that is what
it is. I think I have one client she wasn't
even actually a full client. It was during a consult.
(31:54):
It was the only time I did not like the
vibe of a consult and she didn't like my vibe either,
and I and I literally spectfully, so respectfully, so we
got thirty minutes into it and it was just a
very abrasive conversation because she just didn't see what I
could give for her, and which fair if you don't
(32:14):
see the value, girl, Like, it's okay, you know what
I mean, that's perfectly fine. But I was like, hey,
I just don't see us working well together, Like, you know,
how do you feel about that? Like I'm not feeling that,
Like you know, you see the value in my service,
and if you don't, that's fine, but like you know,
I want your feedback.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
She was like, yeah, I actually completely agree.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah, And I think it's okay business owners to know
that and to have those conversations, have them early, because
nine times out of ten, it probably would be a
problem client. Absolutely if you feel that in the beginning,
you know, make that decision not to go forward.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I even gave her a refund.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Absolutely, I did, because my consults are one twenty five
and for that consult and I did.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I gave her a full refund.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I was like, it just you didn't get any information,
because that's a big thing too, is like maybe I'm
I maybe out of your budget. And that's okay. There
are excellent book keepers out there absolutely that can absolutely
give you information. There's just difference in quality quantity communication.
(33:16):
But regardless, I mean, you know, it's okay. It's okay
to have those tough conversations.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
So before we wrap this up, I have two questions
for you. Okay, I like to surprise everybody with this question.
Number one, what is your superpower?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
My superpower?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
We all have one, entrepreneurs, women, men, like, we all
have a superpower? What's yours? You know what?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm going to tell you this because it's related to
my business, but also because I keep track of it
from tax strategizings, like tax strategizing like with my clients
and stuff like that. Even up to yesterday, I am
at in just a year's time for like twenty twenty
four taxes I'm up to four point two three million
(34:01):
dollars in tax savings that I've saved my clients.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So you're the tax saver. I don't know about that
tax saver. Like that's your superpower.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I would definitely say like and and and also let
me also say that does not mean that every client
will be able to have massive tax like tax strategizing
there there does get to a point where we can't
do anything else. We just can't that one of my clients,
we have maxed out all of the strategizings that we
(34:31):
could possibly come up with. But yeah, last night with
my Hong Kong client, we saved her a good amount
of money as well, and I was able to add
that on to it.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
So I love super fun, super exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I would say probably like for business, that would be
my superpower, and then for.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Like personal life, because you know, there's a difference.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
The absolutely sorry, there's a difference in like business shelby
is completely different than personal shelby. You've seen both sides.
Because in business, I'm very straightforward, I'm very like, this
is just a matter of fact, this is how we
do things.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But on the personal side, I am very roll with
the flow.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I don't like, if you want to go do something,
I'm like, okay, well let's go do it. Not not
much like bothers me. So I guess on the personal side,
it would be like the emotional intelligence, Like I feel
that I have a very good understanding and the emotional
intellect that comes with.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
It's very true. Shelby always knows what I'm about to cry.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
She can tell or whenever, or whenever you try to
like not talk to me for two months and I'm like, yeah,
that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Okay. Second, how do people get in touch with you
if they want to, you know, talk to you, if
they may be needing some help with their business? How
do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
I do have.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I have a website obviously it's everything like hyphen bookkeeping
dot com that also has a link to like a
Google form that they can fill out. The best way, though,
I would say, I would probably just emailing my assistant,
which is Amber at Amber.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
She's great, We'll put that on the screen.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Amber will essentially get the consols set up.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
My consults last an hour.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
But I also book out probably like at least I'm
usually booked about a month and a half, two months
in advance.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
I mean, look how long it took us to get
this book.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
So if you need to like November October, yes, so.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
If you need help, every anybody who has a business,
you need help with bookkeeping, you need some advice, you
need a consult Shelby is your girl, so just need
to know that. But now I really want to thank
you for being on today. It was a pleasure and
I hope that everybody's listen that's listening. You know, learned
a little bit about Shelby. If you're looking at starting
a business, don't be afraid to do it. We have
a young entrepreneur here and you know.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
If it's scary, but don't be too afraid.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Absolutely, and any questions on business, we hope that we
were able to answer that too when it came to
the bookkeeping side. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Thank
you so much, and thank you everybody for joining. If
you want to see this on YouTube, check out our
YouTube channel and we'll be in touch.
Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of Behind Her Business.
We have a very dear friend of mine today that
is our guest. Her name is Shelby Gearing. She is
the owner of a national bookkeeping firm. Shelby, thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for asking me,
of course.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So to give you guys a little context on why
I have Shelby here today. Number One, she's my bookkeeper
for my business, kJ Marketing Group, Okay, and she's the
best out there and I'm being serious. Second, she is
my birthday twin, So we just actually celebrated a birthday together.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Happy birthday, birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So I wanted to have Shelby on this podcast today
because you are the youngest entrepreneur that I.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Know, which is wild, but it is wild.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I feel like we're the same age.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's yeah, No, I definitely don't feel the youngest, but
that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But you started your business what twenty six?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, So I started. I knew I wanted to open
up my own business. It came from actually my husband,
he had already had his business open for a while
and he really gave me kind of that push to
like just go on ahead and do it because I knew,
like financially, he could, you know, help on that back end,
(01:28):
and he was the main provider anyways. And then yeah,
it just absolutely took off from there.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
It is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's insane, and I want to I want to go
back a little bit. So before you started your bookkeeping business,
we'll get into that, But before you started that, how
long were you in corporate Right, you're relatively young, you're
twenty six years old, probably still trying to figure things out. Yeah,
were you always trying to go into bookkeeping and you
know kind of what was your experience before you got
(01:58):
into your own business.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, So I was originally a receptionist a company. It
was an IT company in the healthcare industry, and they
were great.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They definitely like I had just had.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My son and I was twenty years old, and the
office manager there, her name is Karen, absolutely took me
under her wing and basically gave me a lot of
tools that I needed that.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Have helped me drive this business. For sure. She taught
me a lot. She's in HR guru.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
In my eyes, but she handled like the payroll side
of things and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
A lot of the.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
A lot of like the inventory management side, and so
she kind of gave me a little bit of taste
of like some of the credit card and reconciliation portions
of things entering credit cards, and I became like her
little assistant for a while and helping her manage certain
aspects of it.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And then I realized I loved it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I was already kind of having trouble finding what
I really wanted to get into because I was in
college whenever we had our sons. So once I got
that taste of accounting, it just kind of flew from there.
And then I became an accounting assistant and I got
hired on at the really amazing plastic surgeon. He gave
(03:21):
me an opportunity to really grow with him, and I
learned so much. At the end of it, before I resigned,
I was running a whole accounting like whole thing was
running off of nine businesses and all different businesses from
(03:41):
His wife was a dermatologist, and he was also like
he wasn't only just a plastic surgeon. He is a
probably one of the smartest businessmen I've ever known, even
till this day, knowing who all I know, he was
very intelligent and He taught me a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
He definitely did.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's worth its weight in gold. When you are able
to really somebody can take you under their wing, yeah
and show you. And that's what it sounds like to me,
Like we showed you. They gave you all of the
I guess the equipment that you needed, yeah, to start
your own business.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So, like I at first was hired on as like
an accounting assistant under a manager, and then within like
he put me on this big project that was with
the State of Texas that we were basically do like
a sales tax audit, and I had caught this huge
discrepancy and that the previous manager hadn't caught.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So and then there was.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Some other backstories, but essentially I ended up taking over
the position and he was absolutely crazy to give me
that position.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I was like a sponge, Yeah, I mean I really was.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I was with him for like four years, I want
to say four or five years at that point and
before I resigned, and I soaked up every bit of
knowledge that he had in business because he was more
like business finance portion. And then with the CPA that
I worked with, he was awesome as well, and that
taught me a lot of the tax side of things,
(05:11):
and then I got my bookkeeper certificate and then it
just kind of rolled from there and next thing I know,
it was a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I was working over sixty hours.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
A week starting your business, or before you started, I was.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Working for him, and then once I started my business,
that was when Now I work full time.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So yeah, more than sixty.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
But I love what I do and I have a
great team behind me that truly gives me the ability
to keep doing what I love to do.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So how long was it from the moment that you
left corporate to starting your business? Was it a was
it on a whim? Was it something you were thinking
about for years? Like kind of what propelled you? How
long did it take for you to actually take that
first s up?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so I had already been asked whenever I was
running the accounting manage, like whenever I was the accounting
manager there, I had already been asked to kind of
do some books like moonlighting, right, But in respect of
my employer, I because they were the person that had
asked me. They had partnership, was my employer, and they
wanted me to do some of their other businesses as well.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That they had out of respective.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And my I asked him, you know how he would
feel it, and he didn't really, I don't think he
cared much. But at that point I was already just
kind of hitting my limit as far as like working
that many hours.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I was exhausted.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And you know, having an employer and working that home
life balance can me a lot whenever you're trying.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
To also further your career.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, And so that kind of gave me the push
to realize, like, oh wait, I can do this for
other people and for multiple.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
People and have more flexibility and have.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
More flexibility for my family. And within six months of
me opening up my business, I had made my full
salary of what I was getting paid. That's insane under
as an accounting manager, which was absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Where you were in the what's the black from the beginning? Right?
Oh yeah, I say, am I using that term correctly?
My book?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Can I mean black?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Like black?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Kind of like like black is like like breaking even right?
Green is profitability? Oh yeah, because I'm service based.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm service based, right, there's very little overhead. I obviously
like you're gonna learn tips and tricks and you're gonna
go through things that you're gonna fumble, You're gonna fail,
You're gonna be like, Okay, is this even what I
want to do?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Because it is exhausting.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
You better really want to do.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It starts if you want to get I mean, it does.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And you have to have some patients with yourself too,
you know what I mean, understanding that like you're going
to fail, You're gonna be stressed, You're gonna want to
question this is even what you want to do. It's
not easy. And also starting so young, with having such
a young family I was, it was definitely hard, you know,
(08:02):
but I had a really good support system behind me
that was really helpful. But I started with I mean
there was no money. I had no startup fees. Right
once I got the service and I got the contracts,
you know, there.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Was creating my entity.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
There was fees like that to start something like that,
but it wasn't directly related to the actual service that
I was provided.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
See and I think people that are listening to this
podcast and they're thinking what type of service like, because
you have you can you know you can do if
you can be a franchise e, you can have a
service based business, you can have a product based business,
you can do e commerce for me as well. Having
the marketing company. Having consulting was part of my service
in the beginning, at least for the first few years,
(08:45):
I was mainly consulting. We weren't selling any digital product. Yeah,
I was able to be in the green from day
one being a service based company. So what is your
thoughts on people who you know they want to be
able to make because you know, usually if you're productor
spending all this money on product and then you've got
to make up for that product and you're looking usually
not to make profit for a few years.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, usually it's like a two to three year turnaround
if you're not making a profit within And also I
really want to emphasize that this is strictly like resell service,
like resell right, not just like strictly service. If you
have a product that you're wanting to put, you know,
time and effort into to create, that's going to take
(09:27):
extra time, you're gonna you're you're not going to see
a profit for longer periods.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And you have to be okay with you You have
to be okay with that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But I also think as an entrepreneur, whenever you're starting
up your business knowing what your profit margins are potentially
going to be.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Right that we project these figures.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
On the front end, you look at what the economic
rates looking like for that product and the service, what
the marketing is looking like for that Like, there's so
many other factors when it comes to opening a business,
specifically for product based service like base resell. And I
also think taking into account and setting the price, really
(10:03):
looking at that price, yes, because if you just go
with a ballpark number and then you realize your overhead
costs or changes in the economy changes, then you're the
cost to actually produce that product increases and it eats
your margins.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
See, that's why I prefer service based, yeah, right away,
but you know aparent you know obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Everyone wants but and for a long time when I
first started this, I completely agreed with that until I
started getting some of my product based clients as well.
So as you know, like I specialize in the publishing world, right,
they're so best selling authors.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have amazing clients.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I have probably over seventy authors at this point, and
also bookshops and they do book boxes and let me
tell you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
The margins on those book boxes are.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Amazing, Yeah, because you get like you get to sneak
behind the curtain. Yeah, that's a good industry to really
put your money into.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, starting a business.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean it honestly, I think passion comes really really
behind that, right, Like you can I can say, listen,
do a digital Etsy, right, like, get a digital product,
resell it on Etsy. There's not as many like your
profit margins on those are astronomical other than the time
it takes to create whatever digital product that like you
want to produce. I have one client that does something
(11:28):
similar and the perfit margins of those are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So it's something to think about. Guys, don't listen to me.
I'm all about service. I'm going to provide you a
service and cut us a check.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I mean the way it still is service, right, It's
just really it's it's also just really honing down on
those figures, which I think comes into play with actually
knowing what your numbers are as an entrepreneur and as
a business owner. If you just want to do your
taxes and you know, really push your tax strategy and
(12:00):
on the front end and you know, not pay as little.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean yeah, we can absolutely offer that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I work with a well as you know James with
Cobo tax He's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Oh yeah he is. He's my CPA.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, he's great, and we have over fifty clients together.
We work very closely together and we build our clients
to where taxes aren't as stressful at.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
The end of the year.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
But if you're not wanting to hone in on your
financials and actually be able to what's the report?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I always oh.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
My god, okay, So to tell you guys, So, whenever
I started the business and Shelby came on board, she said,
my bare ass minimum. It was my BAM. I had
no idea what a BAM was like, what is bam?
She's like, what you need to spend to stay in business?
So I was constantly asking her my bare ass minimum? Yeah,
we want to know that if you're not a business
owners and question business owners do they always know that?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Not? Okay, So business owner, I think they may think
that they have an idea, right, but truly like, if
the to keep the doors open of your business, what
is the minimum that like you have that's going to
cost you? And then that's like kind of the foundation
to creating those figures of how much you want to
(13:18):
resell your products, right, because then once you know that,
then you have at least a good foundation to start
and make those decisions. If you don't have your BAM,
if you don't know the market that you're in, if
you don't even know your product, you know what I mean.
I feel like having the conversations with other bookkeepers and
other accounting firms and other you know, CPA firms, whatever's
(13:40):
out there. Having those conversations and really feeling out the
market is really important too well.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And I think also knowing competitive competitively what's being priced. Yeah,
because that's something that we've talked about. And it's so
funny because I know that there's probably some people that
have businesses that are listening to this that have a bookkeeper. Yeah,
but all not all bookkeepers are the same. Iron to say,
as Shelby was my third and my last. But I
will tell you, she'll sit with me and talk about
(14:07):
my BAM. She'll talk about what percentage of my revenue
should be should go to payroll budgeting, We do budgeting.
I mean, these are things that you know. And half
the time I canceled the meetings guys, because I don't
want to, you know, I read she does no more Amazon.
But it's important to know this. And so if you're
(14:28):
a business owner, like these are the things, I think
it's important for us to talk about these things and
be very open with them. What is the one thing
that you see most businesses have. What's the biggest mistake
that they make when it comes to their monthly budgeting?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, I'm going to say that well, and you know
me because I'm I'm a very I will tell it
to you straight right. Yes, there have been many times
that we've had some really rough conversations that you probably
did not like me very much.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, absolutely, that's the job exactly like my job isn't
to hold your hand. Obviously I will while I'm giving
it to you straight, but ignorance I do. I think
that like hiding from what is actually going.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
On in your business can really make or break you. Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Will also say that like growth is very scary. You
can absolutely grow too big too soon, but also just
really looking at those figures and also sitting down with
someone who can explain it to you, because if you
don't know the difference between a profit and loss. And
if you can't even read your balance sheet, then there's
(15:41):
a problem, right, Like you have to know what's going on.
You have to know exactly like where you want to
go to, right, Like, we can't get to an end
zone and get to a play and complete it if
we don't even have a goal in mind.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So what are the telltale signs that a company needs
somebody like you? Some people they just you know, do
either do their quarterly taxes and they wait till the
end of the year. When is it when you're like,
you know what, you need somebody like me? You need
a bookkeeper to come in have monthly meetings? Like what when?
When does a business need that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I think it depends on the owner, right, there's like
two facets to it, correct, Like, it depends on the
owner and what they will actually put into it.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
A lot of this.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I can give number numbers, I can give projections, I
can give all this data and produce all this time
and work for an owner. But if they're not willing
to sit down and actually read it and actually make
decisions off of that, then monthly will.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Never work for them. Yep, that's true, right, it will never.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You're going to get out what you put in.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And I think also it's very fair for me to
say like I am not, as you know, I'm not
the cheapest bookkeeper out there.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
There are absolutely bookkeepers out there that will do.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Data entry, reconciliation for you know, different pricing. We're all different,
we're at different level. I am a little bit more
on the higher end of bookkeeping because I dabble with
accounting and finance and stuff like that and tax projections.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
But we can do all this work.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
But if you don't want to sit down actually look
at it, then monthly is never gonna work.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
There's no point.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And I will also say on the flip side of that, right,
even if you don't want to put in the time
and effort to read these financials and actually talk about
them and go through them tax wise, even if just
just you want us to have someone to stay on
top of your taxes and if you have a lot
of movement coming in and out, I definitely recommend getting someone.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Because it gets a second pair of eyes.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Right, how many times have I come to you, hey, listen,
this payment was wrong. Someone in your internal ran this
payment incorrectly. This payment was never received you know, and
you have someone that's a professional that's.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Finding these that's your job. That's what you did from.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
What I do.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, and having someone to support that is I think crucial.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You said something that really stood out to me was
you're not the cheapest.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I think that as entrepreneurs, if you are providing a service,
and you're providing a stellar service or even like a
stellar product, I think we all as entrepreneurs, especially in
the beginning of our journeys, maybe you did, I know
I did. I did lowering your serve to get the client.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Absolutely, So I'm going to I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Going to give you a break because I really want
to get the client. We want to you know, we
want to build our portfolio. But once you're in business
for a while and you know what you bring to
the table. I hate to say it, it's so cliche,
but you really do get what you pay for. You
have to be able to say, Okay, this is where
I'm going to be because this is the value. And
I love that you said that. Yeah, because did that
(18:51):
change for you in the beginning when you started to
Now now that you have this experience, you know your worth? Yeah,
did that change for you.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I definitely think it did.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And I will also say, like that's probably one of
the things that whenever I first opened, I probably didn't
do enough research on the book keeping in that industry
of what the pricing was, right, Like a lot of
times pricing is people don't like to talk a prep
about price and they want to keep it, you know,
just sliding under and kind of hush hush. And so
(19:20):
I started out, I want to say, like my first
monthly was maybe like three hundred bucks, three hundred and
fifty bucks something like that, and.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You were probably doing hours and hours way past that
three hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, I mean it was definitely if I truly took
like my hourly rate at that time, I was probably
like thirty bucks an hour.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
That's not it now, yes, obviously, but it took time,
and it starts that way. Everyone starts that way, like
we all do. But I will also say that.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think as a business owner, like like you had
just mentioned, knowing your worth and knowing your value and
being willing to say no, I'm okay, like I am
understand you may not see the value in this, but
I know the value of this, and I know what
I can do for you. But also on that flip side,
comes value comes expectations. I guess we're just talking about this, right,
(20:11):
Like the stress of expectations from your clients is just daunting.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Well, we're talking about that actually on the phone this morning,
because we're talking about that. Getting the client is easy,
I mean, pitching the client, getting the business is easy.
But it's after that, it's putting in the work for it.
That's when the real work happens. And that's where most
of the energy. Especially if you're a business owner and
you're catering most of the clients, they're going to buy you.
(20:40):
I mean you have the expertise, but a lot of
times they're buying you, you have to make sure you
have to ultra serve your clients. So I mean that's
what they're paying for. They're paying for that one on
one service and if they don't get it, they're going
to find somebody else who will give that to them.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
There's also a level of like value of not only
like wanting to retain your client, but also like truly
just wanting to help them, And there's different there is
there's a difference, right, Like there's I I really value
every single one of my clients, no matter if you
Because I have clients as you know, like in New York, Colorado, Washington, Wyoming,
(21:15):
I am, I'm Florida.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
I'm international too, I I do, I do have.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
A Hong Kong client. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
But regardless with that, I build relationships with these people.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I mean, I truly do.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
That's I think that's something that I've always started from
the beginning, was that I never wanted to get like
too big for my bridges, right, my quality it is,
I my quality of clients, Like I never wanted to
lose quality over quantity. And I think that's also another
big part where like you have to kind of take
a step back and realize, Okay, do I want to
(21:49):
take the next level.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Because I'm completely referral.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Based, I do not do any advertising, I know, crazy
right advertising, and I.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Have honestly, I know you don't need it. And that's
part of being a really good advertising firm, right, knowing
when you don't need it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I guess so right, And for me, I just
I really I put a lot of effort into those relationships,
and I think those relationships for themselves absolutely, And because
I'm only referral based, I I don't take.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
People off the street.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And it's not that I'm not willing, it's just the
fact that there's a level of knowledge I think that
comes when saying, hey, listen, Christina, I have this great person,
they do great business. I think that that, like you
know you, they would be great for your business or
whatever that. I think there's a level that comes with that,
(22:41):
and the expectations are set there too, So you know,
it's it's nice, but it can definitely the expectations can
definitely be drowning at point.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So let's pivot for a second because I want to
get into the mother and you, Oh goodness, gracious, you're amazing.
I mean, you have two kids. Do you have one son?
What is he twelve?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He's about to turn eleven?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Okay, and yeah, he's around yeah Braxton, Braxton, he's turning
eleven on the twenty seventh.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yes, and so and then your daughter. You have a
story we do for your daughter, So tell us about
how that came into place.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So we're in the middle of adopting our daughter. We've
had her since she was four days old.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
She is the sassiest little thing you have ever met
in your life. But yeah, no, motherhood's hard, especially owning
a business and combining that because you know, motherhood's a
full time job.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And full time self and it's our real job.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
It's honest, right, it's the core job for us.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
At the end of the day, our businesses can absolutely
tank and go in the hole and we're still a mother,
We're still We're still taking care of those little ones,
and that's hard.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Sometimes.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
How do you find I try to be more mindful
because at first, you know, I'm working late. My daughters
she's ten, she's old enough to say, mom, are you
done with work? Here you're saying. My two year old
son actually came to me the other day and said,
get off my phone. So how do you balance that?
Because I know it's tax season right now.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh you're insane, it is.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But how do you balance that? And do you balance it?
I mean, let's be honest.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Here, not hard. No, I don't balance.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I think Shonda Rhimes was the one who said that
either I'm a great business woman, but I'm failing as
a mother, or like, I'm a great mother, but my
business is failing, And there's so much truth in that statement.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Like I don't find I truly don't don't believe.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That there's ever a true balance that you can truly
like do both right. And I'm not saying that there's
probably women out there, way better women than me that.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Can, but I have not found that balance. I try. Yeah,
we all try.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
We all try to be there for our kids and
make them like great here beings and growing up in
this crazy world that we have going on.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like it's hard.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, it really is hard, and I still haven't found
the balance either. I mean, I actually spent some very
mindful time playing trucks and cars with my kids last night,
and it was just so nice just to sit there.
I mean the ten minutes felt like an hour.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But literally know, I don't know why it's very hard.
Why is plenty of time so hard? To second?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Guys, I answer this question, why is playtime so hard?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Like I don't know if I'm just like a bad mom, but.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Like I think we're all so hard.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Just I can color, I can color.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I love color.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I will absolutely color.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I'll play Connect for all day.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Oh yeah, I'll play games. I'll play games, I'll color.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I'll even my daughter loves doing like the fake makeup because.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
She loves watching. She'll sit with me while I do
my makeup.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
We'll do makeup, right, but playing actually play after play.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
My son is very creative.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I mean when I tell you, this boy will just
play with himself for a full hour with his toy.
And it's amazing to see. Right, But whenever he like
wants me to like act or like go with a.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
It does like, Okay, that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Let's put out.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Let's let's try to do this. It is. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
But I will also say that I think there is
a importance in our kids seeing strong women. Absolutely absolutely right, Like,
my husband is an amazing father husband, but he also
owns his own business, and you know, we both talked
(26:39):
about having trouble balancing that. You know there's and I
think also like because we're both running our own businesses,
we are very separate in our businesses. He makes his decisions,
I make my decisions. Now we do, like have a
really good foundation and we can come together and talk
about the woes and the hard days, and you know,
we'll ask for sometimes will give advice when the other
(27:02):
really doesn't want to right or like.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Or like whenever he just I'm like, are you sure,
that's the way you want to do this.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And then he's been telling me for probably like the
past five months that I needed to hire another bookkeeper.
And and it's very hard for me because it's not
about the fact that I don't think I can find someone.
It's the fact that is someone going to care about
my clients as much as I do.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
That's always the issue, especially when you're a small business. Yeah,
you know, and you hire.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And I'm also dealing with small businesses, right because there's
a lot of questions that come up with this.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
There's a lot of there's not a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Of you know, direct feedback saying hey, whenever you open
your business, you're going to first start this way.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Depending on your business, you're going to do X, y Z,
do this.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
It's going to be a show at least for the
first few years, and you have to be okay with that.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
But I also think like finding the people and getting
connected with people that actually know what's going on is
very important too, right, Like, you may be able to
do a great service and a great product. I would
never sit here and be like, oh, let me just
do my own marketing and advertising.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I don't know, crap about marketing.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
You go to the expert.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
I go to an expert. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So, and I think that's, you know, a really important
thing too in starting your business, knowing where your limitations lie.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Well, and I think there's still that age old saying higher, slow,
fire fast. You know. I do think that you will
find that person. There are people out there that will
be so passionate about your business. And I'm very lucky
in my business a kJ marketing group is that I've
found people that actually love this business as much as
(28:37):
I do. And I think that is like worth its
weight in gold completely, you know. And I think with you,
you've kind of gone, you know, it's just part of
being a business owner. You're going to hire people. But
I think maybe just making sure that that person is
the right person for the job. I think we kind
of get our emotional our emotions in play with this
and we hold onto people too long and we realized
(28:59):
later on maybe that wasn't the best pace.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah, yeah, I can't agree with that.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, And it's really hard because I will tell you
I would not be where I'm at in my business
without my husband and my two employees that I have
right now. Yes, I mean they truly are like when
I say, like the backbone, I have the knowledge and
I have the relationships and stuff like that, but the
admin side, they help me keep up with the bookkeeping.
(29:25):
Like they're both books so all of my like my
two employees are bookkeepers, like they're certified.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
But it's it's hard.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
It's hard letting go, and it's hard adding to a
team that's already structured. I mean, I've had one employee
for the full three years and then my other one
she just hit two years.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Very timber, so you know my retention, I hold on
to them tight. I do. I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I don't let them go unless like they want to go,
or unless like it just does not make sense.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
So tell me, have you ever fired a client?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I have, I have, and it's really hard whenever like
you want to help someone more than they want to
help themselves. I had to fire a physician once, and
it was more in the sense because you know, obviously
I was in the medical industry for a while, so
I have a lot of knowledge in that. She was
(30:20):
probably like one of the first twenty clients I had
probably gotten at that point, and she is a super
sweet woman. I would still talk to her if I
saw on the street till this day, but just the
practices that she was running as far as like the
business side of things, they just weren't.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
In line with what should be happening.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And she wasn't giving me the data I needed, right, Like,
I can only work with so much that I receive.
And I also, as you know, I'm very upfront.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
What you do is a two way type communication. So
if you're only getting one way, it's just you know,
it's just not a good fit basically.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Right, And that happens, And sometimes I'm not a good fit.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Right. I can be very upfront about certain things, and
some people can get very offended by that. But I
also set the standard of that relationship and that communication
in my consults. I mean, we do an hour consult
for a reason, and it's not only and I do
them like through zoom. I want to see my client's face.
I want them to see my face because if you
(31:24):
get any type of vibe, or if you don't care
for something I.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Say, or if you want to be able to see
facial expressions.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I do.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
You know, I read people. I will absolutely read a
situation very quickly. But it's just that really really big
communication factor. And I don't totally believe in vibes, so
if we're just not catching it, then that is what
it is. I think I have one client she wasn't
even actually a full client. It was during a consult.
(31:54):
It was the only time I did not like the
vibe of a consult and she didn't like my vibe either,
and I and I literally spectfully, so respectfully, so we
got thirty minutes into it and it was just a
very abrasive conversation because she just didn't see what I
could give for her, and which fair if you don't
(32:14):
see the value, girl, Like, it's okay, you know what
I mean, that's perfectly fine. But I was like, hey,
I just don't see us working well together, Like, you know,
how do you feel about that? Like I'm not feeling that,
Like you know, you see the value in my service,
and if you don't, that's fine, but like you know,
I want your feedback.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
She was like, yeah, I actually completely agree.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah, And I think it's okay business owners to know
that and to have those conversations, have them early, because
nine times out of ten, it probably would be a
problem client. Absolutely if you feel that in the beginning,
you know, make that decision not to go forward.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I even gave her a refund.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Absolutely, I did, because my consults are one twenty five
and for that consult and I did.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I gave her a full refund.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I was like, it just you didn't get any information,
because that's a big thing too, is like maybe I'm
I maybe out of your budget. And that's okay. There
are excellent book keepers out there absolutely that can absolutely
give you information. There's just difference in quality quantity communication.
(33:16):
But regardless, I mean, you know, it's okay. It's okay
to have those tough conversations.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
So before we wrap this up, I have two questions
for you. Okay, I like to surprise everybody with this question.
Number one, what is your superpower?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
My superpower?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
We all have one, entrepreneurs, women, men, like, we all
have a superpower? What's yours? You know what?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm going to tell you this because it's related to
my business, but also because I keep track of it
from tax strategizings, like tax strategizing like with my clients
and stuff like that. Even up to yesterday, I am
at in just a year's time for like twenty twenty
four taxes I'm up to four point two three million
(34:01):
dollars in tax savings that I've saved my clients.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So you're the tax saver. I don't know about that
tax saver. Like that's your superpower.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I would definitely say like and and and also let
me also say that does not mean that every client
will be able to have massive tax like tax strategizing
there there does get to a point where we can't
do anything else. We just can't that one of my clients,
we have maxed out all of the strategizings that we
(34:31):
could possibly come up with. But yeah, last night with
my Hong Kong client, we saved her a good amount
of money as well, and I was able to add
that on to it.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
So I love super fun, super exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I would say probably like for business, that would be
my superpower, and then for.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Like personal life, because you know, there's a difference.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
The absolutely sorry, there's a difference in like business shelby
is completely different than personal shelby. You've seen both sides.
Because in business, I'm very straightforward, I'm very like, this
is just a matter of fact, this is how we
do things.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But on the personal side, I am very roll with
the flow.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I don't like, if you want to go do something,
I'm like, okay, well let's go do it. Not not
much like bothers me. So I guess on the personal side,
it would be like the emotional intelligence, Like I feel
that I have a very good understanding and the emotional
intellect that comes with.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
It's very true. Shelby always knows what I'm about to cry.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
She can tell or whenever, or whenever you try to
like not talk to me for two months and I'm like, yeah,
that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Okay. Second, how do people get in touch with you
if they want to, you know, talk to you, if
they may be needing some help with their business? How
do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
I do have.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I have a website obviously it's everything like hyphen bookkeeping
dot com that also has a link to like a
Google form that they can fill out. The best way, though,
I would say, I would probably just emailing my assistant,
which is Amber at Amber.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
She's great, We'll put that on the screen.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Amber will essentially get the consols set up.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
My consults last an hour.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
But I also book out probably like at least I'm
usually booked about a month and a half, two months
in advance.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
I mean, look how long it took us to get
this book.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
So if you need to like November October, yes, so.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
If you need help, every anybody who has a business,
you need help with bookkeeping, you need some advice, you
need a consult Shelby is your girl, so just need
to know that. But now I really want to thank
you for being on today. It was a pleasure and
I hope that everybody's listen that's listening. You know, learned
a little bit about Shelby. If you're looking at starting
a business, don't be afraid to do it. We have
a young entrepreneur here and you know.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
If it's scary, but don't be too afraid.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Absolutely, and any questions on business, we hope that we
were able to answer that too when it came to
the bookkeeping side. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Thank
you so much, and thank you everybody for joining. If
you want to see this on YouTube, check out our
YouTube channel and we'll be in touch.
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